Natasha Lomas
Natasha is a reporter for TechCrunch, joining September 2012, based out of London. She arrives after a stint reviewing smartphones for CNET UK and, prior to that, more than five years covering business technology for silicon.com (now folded into TechRepublic.com). At silicon she focused on mobile and wireless, telecoms and networking, and IT skills issues, and has also freelanced for organisations including the Guardian and the BBC. Natasha studied English at Cambridge University, and also holds an MA from Goldsmiths College, University of London.
CrunchBase profile →Featured Picks from Natasha Lomas
Latest from Natasha Lomas
-
Inspired By Google’s Project Ara, A U.K. Team Is Now Working On A Modular Smartwatch
Meet the wannabe modular smartwatch that intends to offer a fully customisable wearable experience, by allowing the user to choose which sensors and features make sense for their wrist -- whether it's a basic fitness band they're after, or a more fully featured smartwatch. Read More
-
Atomico-Backed Quipper Gets Another $5.8M To Expand The Reach Of Its E-Learning Platform
Quipper, an e-learning platform backed by the London-based VC firm, Atomico, that's led by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström, has closed a new tranche of funding. The $5.8 million Series A2 round takes Quipper's total funding to just over $10 million to-date. Read More
-
Sailogy Snags $1.15M To Expand Its Yacht Chartering Marketplace
Having recently spent an evening listening to a twenty-something former Google developer (who shall remain nameless) discussing his burning desire to own a yacht, my ears pricked up on hearing of Sailogy — a marketplace for boat chartering — that’s just closed a $1.15 million Series A funding round. So hey, developers — even if you don’t have the time to get round to… Read More
-
AgIC Is A DIY Kit For Turning A Home Inkjet Printer Into A Circuit-Board Maker
Another startup aiming to simplify the process of prototyping electronics by doing away with the need to wire up breadboards has taken to Kickstarter. This latest one, called AgIC, combines the approaches of two we’ve previously covered — the Ex1 3D printer for PCBs and the Circuit Scribe conductive ink pen — by offering a kit to let people turn a home inkjet printer into a… Read More
-
Kunerango Is An Edtech SaaS Toolset For Individuals To Sell Online Courses
You might think the MOOCs movement had saturated the edtech space. But Kunerango, an Italian startup that's built a SaaS platform for instructors to create branded online schools where they can sell courses, reckons there's room for not-so-massive alternatives. Read More
-
TVSmiles Closes $7M Series A To Take Its Second-Screen TV Ad Loyalty Program Beyond Germany
Berlin-based startup TVSmiles, which has built a second-screen app-based loyalty program to encourage people to watch TV ads, has closed a $7 million Series A funding round, from prior investors Ventech. Read More
-
Yahoo Does Social Data U-Turn — Will Be Ditching Google & Facebook Sign-Ins For All Products
Yahoo is planning to push users of its online services to register for a Yahoo ID to access its services — and will be removing the extant option for users to sign in with Google or Facebook credentials. Noting the change earlier, Reuters reports that the shutting out of rival services’ sign-ins will be a gradual one — starting with Yahoo Sports Tourney Pick’Em, a fantasy… Read More
-
Facebook Messenger Is Now (Finally) On Windows Phone
Microsoft used its pre-Mobile World Congress press conference last week to talk about how Windows Phone is closing the app gap with rival platforms — and hammered that point home bu also announcing that Facebook Messenger would be available within “weeks“. True to its word, Redmond has today confirmed the Facebook messaging app is now finally available to users of Windows Phone… Read More
-
Peekster App, A ‘Shazam For Print Media’, Adds Promoted Articles Revenue Stream
Peekster, another recent graduate from the Wayra U.K. startup bootcamp, wants to help smartphone users connect their offline reading habits with their online social networks. Yes, this startup is banking on dead tree media being around for a while yet. Long enough for it to build a business that bridges the gap between paper-based media and the digital world, anyway. Read More
-
With Eye On Growth, Just Eat Buys Meal2Go To Offer EPOS Tech To Its Takeaway Partners
Online fast food ordering startup Just Eat has acquired Meal2Go, a maker of electronic point of sale technology tailored to the restaurant sector, in a move aimed at growing its business by offering its takeaway partners additional services. Just Eat has not disclosed how much it’s spending on the acquisition of Birmingham, U.K.-based Meal2Go. “This deal will enable us to provide an… Read More
-
Roojoom Closes $600K Seed To Push Its Online Tutorial-Builder At More Businesses
Israeli startup Roojoom, a recent graduate of the Microsoft Ventures Accelerator, has closed a $600,000 seed round, from 2B Angels and private investors. The startup, which was founded a year ago, has built a presentation creation platform that lets businesses quickly create online tutorials and manuals, utilizing content from around the web — or building presentations using their own… Read More
-
Buzzmove Nabs $650K Seed As It Readies Its Removals Comparison Marketplace For Full U.K. Launch
Fresh from graduating out of the Wayra U.K. incubator, Buzzmove has closed a $650,000 seed round to build out its removals comparison platform. The U.K. startup said it plans to use the new funding to bring more vendors into the marketplace as it prepares to launch its service nationwide. The seed funding comes from a group of investors including Michael & Simon Blakey at Avonmore… Read More
-
Hotel Metasearch Top10.com Closes $8M Series B, Led By Balderton, To Expand In Europe
Hotel metasearch startup, Top10.com, has closed an $8 million Series B funding round, led by Balderton Capital, following what it describes as rapid growth over the past 12 months. Its total funding raised to date is now $12.5 million, including this latest chunk. Read More
-
Raspberry Pi Chalks Up Sales Of 2.5M+ As It Turns Two — $10K Bounty Offered For Opening Its Blob
Happy Birthday Raspberry Pi! The low-cost Linux microcomputer has just turned two years old. And boy how it's grown. Read More
-
A Closer Look At Blackphone, The Android Smartphone That Simplifies Privacy
One of the more interesting devices here at Mobile World Congress is Blackphone: a pro-privacy handset being developed by Spanish startup Geeksphone, in partnership with U.S. security company Silent Circle using a “security-oriented” Android build called PrivatOS. Read More
-
Hands On With The Xperia Z2, Sony’s Multimedia-Loving 4K-Shooting Flagship Phone
Sony's new flagship Android, the Xperia Z2, risks being overshadowed here at MWC by Samsung's latest electronic tub-thumper, the Galaxy S5. But not on the show floor at least -- where a phalanx of Z2 are massed in Sony's booth, ready for the masses to fondle. Read More
-
LinkedIn Mobile Usage Approaching A Majority — Now At 41%
Veteran professional social network LinkedIn grew up on the desktop and is in the midst of retooling its 277 million-user strong business for a mobile-focused digital world. Today it said it’s now just nine percentage points off having its ‘mobile moment’ — aka the point when the proportion of users visiting the service via mobile devices tips into a majority. Speaking in a… Read More
-
Mobile Messaging App Line Claims 2M New Users In 24-Hour Period After WhatsApp Outage
Mobile messaging platform Line, a WhatsApp rival that’s very popular in Japan but is also gunning for global growth, has claimed it acquired two million new registered users in a 24 hour period after WhatsApp’s recent service outage. Read More
-
Zuckerberg: Snowden NSA Revelations Have Brought The Tech Industry Closer
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations about the extent of the U.S. government’s surveillance dragnet of Internet users has had one positive impact, according to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg: it’s made rivals in the tech industry more open to working together. “The NSA issues, I think they’re a real issue, especially for U.S. Internet companies,”… Read More
-
Privacy-Focused Blackphone From Silent Circle Goes Up For Pre-Order For $629
The Blackphone, a security focused smartphone from Silent Circle and Geeksphone, is kicking off pre-sales today after an official unveiling back in January. The Blackphone is billed as the "world's first smartphone which places privacy and control directly in the hands of its users," which essentially means that it offers a forked version of Android called PrivatOS and comes pre-loaded with apps… Read More
